Bye Bye Honda Fit! Helllllllllooooooooooo Mazdaspeed3!!!!!

That car in the different category (and price range). Before you salivate check the prices for 18" max performance summer rubber. And beware of the torque steer :)

I already have. From what I've been told from current Honda Fit owners, the dealers have been charging $2,000 OVER MSRP, plus there's other things they had to buy that are normally included with most cars, so YOU'RE the one who should check the prices. The dealers are ripping off the Fit customers bigtime.

dealers have been

normally included with

ripping off the Fit

I'm sure they do. But even if prices would not go down in a few month they would in a year or two. Mini was selling like hot cakes when it just came out now it can be had for 18k (standard transmission) and they might finally sell for 17.5k they were originally suggested to be sold for while having none of the problems of the first model year. Mazdaspeed 3 would most likely cost waaaay more than fit cost these days. It;s compete with WRX and SRT-4 and would therefore be around $22-23k. And it's every bit as heavy as the two cars it;s competing with. The prices for Civic Si would go down by then and I hope I could get one for under $21k. Too bad the wife says the sedan is ass-ugly. I love it from evey angle!!! Taillights, schmaillights.

We are all so happy for you! Now head on over to the MAZDA group Skippy!

Bye Bye!

G-Man

Let's see, they have exactly zero in common except the idea that they're both front wheel drive, 5 door Japanese cars.

Why Mazdaspeed3 instead of WRX?

I love my Accord, but I'd take a WRX any day :)

i tested one of the early wrx's, and it didn't impress me. it's quick enough, but doesn't corner like a honda. on balance, i think that matters more.

>>>>

They've come on a lot in 20+ years. Of course, i've neve seen a regular saloon described as better handling than a race-oriented car.

My son and I test drove a WRX a few months ago when we were shopping for a new car for him for graduation.

Fast? Oh yeah.

But it was put together like the cheapo civic DX and even shutting the doors sounded tinny. The inside was nothing to write home about. I guess if you want raw power, it's for you. Personally I like a balance of both.

He ended up getting an EX-V6 4 door Accord 6-Spd.

G-Man

well here's the thing - the dealer let my buddy and i take the the car out on our own [as in, unsupervised!!!] so you can guess what happened. basically, we took it out on a canyon trail and redlined it for about

30 minutes. power, yep. brakes, ok. handling, blah. better than a stock legacy, but still blah. hondas understeer at 9/10ths, but they still handle better if you know what you're doing because you can use it to gauge the degree of available traction.

i wonder how many people get to do /real/ test drives like that? [tip: show up at about 5:30 on a sunday night when there's 5 other people in the showroom looking at minivans and the sales dude wants to go home.]

They're designed, based on the trim level/spec to be a road legal track car. As such creature comforts that add weight, like the soundproofing, and all that, are taken out.

friend of a friend ran a hillclimb car (60's mini) - you had to wear radio headsets inside your helmets to talk between the ocupants, because it was too noisy otherwise. Thats how such cars are.

Drove a Metro 6R4 groupB rally car from the early/mid 80s a few yewars back, you couldn't hear anything in that thing, and it was fast as hell - 80's civic hatchback size, 450+hp, and 4WD. was banned from rallys for being too fast and so too dangerous. At the time, they were able to lap silverstone in them within about 10-15 seconds of the formula1 cars. but noisy - hell yeah!

I did back in Jan, with a volvo v70r. turned up with a buddy 9a local state patrol cop) and he got it on an unsupervised test. They're actually looking into buying one or two for pursuit vehicles, so we get on the interstate, with a pair of friends in marked cars, and floor it - 135mph and the crown vics were tapped out - volvo was a dream, and is limited to 155...(so if you saw 2 state trooppers, with a black V70 between them flashing past you in Jan, here's a belated wave :-)

Lets see, my laundry list for Impreza (including WRX):

1. shitty handling (can't feel where the car ends)
2. shitty 5sp transmission.
3. "hello retirement!" suspension (My Outback Sport rolls MORE with a fat rear sway bar than a Toyolet Malibu without, and mind you Malibu is not a sporting car by any measure).
4. mediocre brakes

On Impreza without turbo:

1. shitty gear ratios

On the plus side there are gobs of traction anywhere. But Civic Si should be no worse I expect. And dispite the puny 139 ft.lbs of torque that beast does 0-60 in 6.5 sec while my pigley that can theoretically crank out 166 ft.lbs does it in

8.4 See the part about shitty gearing above if you are still Imprezzed.

Granted, for WRX you probably would have so much power that you won't care how the car is geared. Properly or not you'd have plenty of power anywhere and can transport yourself pretty quickly. Having zero enjoyment in the process.

So if a muscle car is in your future WRX fits the bill just fine. But if you have any brains left you may want to give a long and hard look to Civic Si.

Dunno if the seats are bearable though. They were complete P.O.S. when I test drove a civic 3 years ago and that was a dealbreaker.

Perhaps. Depends on where and how you're driving. The thing I miss most about my old GLC is the RWD for cornering on the dirt roads 'back home' - you just can't power-slide in a FWD :)

Forgot to add, 4 wheel drifts in Impreza are controllable due to 50/50 torque split between the axles. I guess I'll miss that if I get a Civic Si. You just can't have it all... Unless you get an Evo!!!

Controllable drifts? Check. Razorblade steering precision? Check! Decent shifter? Check. Gobs of power? Check. Affordability? Can't have it all after all.

reliability... build quality... maintaince

the evo's are terrible for road use, especially the higher h ones (anything over about 280) Major service on them is something like

15-20k miles

Hmm, the warranty is 5 years/60k miles. Unless they prove that you raced it I don't see how you can get into much trouble. Except with LEO :-)

As the british Motoring Journalist Jeremy Clarckson has found out, Warentees have their down sides too.

His ford GT has been in quite a few times now, and whilst its been in, whats he got to replce it from the dealer... a ford focus estate diesel (station wagon)

imagine you take your FQ400 in, because its broken again, and whilst its being worked on, you get some boring small bottom of the rage loaner. Still happy about your buy? Still happy when it seems you drive the laoners more than the car you bought?

I picked up my Fit 07 this evening. I got the Sport Auto. Had to wait almost 2 months for it! Drives well, the engine seems to rev up a bit when starting up. Ride is a bit firm - comparable to a 1992 2 door civic. Seats are firm, but very supporting and one gets used to them real fast. Visibility is excellent as is handling.

I paid $399 - dealer conveyance fee over the MSRP. If I'd waited, or shopped around a bit I might have saved part of that - but I wanted the car sight unseen.

No misgiv> >